38
votes
What's your favorite RSS reader?
I prefer Android and something linkable with a PC but for others obviously iOS options too.
I prefer Android and something linkable with a PC but for others obviously iOS options too.
NetNewsWire is, for my money, the best one. I have it backed by Inoreader as the feed to sync between clients on the back-end.
I like it because it’s a very straightforward interface that is thoughtfully designed. It loads fast, it has keyboard shortcuts for navigating it, and has about all the basic features you’d want. And it’s free.
I’d like to see a few features added just to make it easier to manage different types of feeds (like full text vs. headlines and pages that do long-reads versus a constant firehose of content). But none of the RSS readers out there really offer that.
Seconding NetNewsWire. Probably the best available for Apple platforms in terms of overall quality and efficiency, and it's free and open source to boot. Really just excellent.
Maybe not helpful for you, @3dge (sorry!), but I selfhost miniflux and I like it a lot. I have used the PWA on Android and iOS and it's pretty much perfect for me.
I also run miniflux and consume it on my phone via Capy Reader which I've been liking quite a bit. I wonder if a similar combo might sate OP's desire for "Android and something linkable with a PC..."
If they're willing to give self-hosting a shot, it could be a good fit.
Thanks for mentioning Capy Reader — I just have it a shot and I really enjoy it!
It could be an account based reader or something I self host. Either is fine. I am fairly tech savvy
Another happy Miniflux user here. I use its (delightfully snappy) web frontend on my Linux desktops and NetNewsWire on iOS. The latter syncs via the Google Reader style API that Miniflux exposes. My unread entries count is embarrassingly high, but that's my own fault!
Just a quick tip: you don’t have to self-host Miniflux. They have an incredibly cheap ($15/year) zero-hassle hosted option which has been working great for me for the past 6-7 years or so. Miniflux is the GOAT. Actively developed, insanely polished over years and years of continuous work, fast and frugal, with killer features like a built-in scraper for fetching full text and tons of integrations. If you like Tildes, you’ll love Miniflux. I will never turn my back on Miniflux.
I had no idea, that's awesome!
This can work as long as it has an Android app and a Windows app that can both access the host
@RadDevon's recommendation of Capy Reader for Android is great, I've been using it since it was recommended! For Windows, you could probably use the web app? You can also install it as a progressive web app if you want it to alpear like a standalone app. The web app is pretty nice! And you can customize the style
I should say, actually, there's a Google Reader API (this is what Capy uses), so any reader that supports the Google Reader API should work!
I selfhost FreshRSS. It's pretty straightforward and minimal. It has a few nice features like turning non-feeds into feeds via scraping, but I don't use any of that. I don't bother with an app on my phone, the PWA is plenty.
I can recommend NetNewsWire. It's free, has been free for decades and supports FreshRSS.
Yeah, I use FreshRSS+NetNewsWire
Ages ago I started using feedly for the few RSS feeds I follow, still using it. They jumped on the AI train, but it seems easy enough to not enable it.
I should say I use it mainly on PC, but I think the site works on mobile, and they should have an app
TLDR I use BazQux:
https://tildes.net/~tech/1j98/#comment-dsij
Some previous discussions about RSS:
https://tildes.net/~tech/1gxm/do_you_use_an_rss_reader
https://lobste.rs/s/hwhptd/which_atom_rss_reader_do_you_use
Can't say it's the best because I haven't tried many others, but I've been using Inoreader (free version) for the past couple years and had no problems. Both the website version and the iOS app sync flawlessly.
Plus I use Want My RSS extension on Firefox to quickly get feeds from any website that offers them.
Yes, for me Inoreader is the most look-a-like clone of old Google Reader (RIP). Which is perfect.
For podcasts and video RSS feeds yt-dlp is quite good.
For text Calibre custom recipes and calibre-smtp works wonders :)
I self-hosted freshRSS for 5+ years, no maintenance ever. Recently switched to miniflux to try something new, I slightly prefer miniflux being distributed over a package manager but they are quite similar overall. 10/10 rating for each.
The one I use is a FOSS app for Android called Feeder (developer is Space Cowboy). Well looked after, easy to use, and no bloat. Easy, fast, FOSS RSS reader.
Only downside is no sync to any other devices. So I read all my RSS on my phone now.
I use QuiteRSS in linux.
https://news.herson.hn/
The one I built with my own hands :)
I've been using NewsBlur since Google killed Google Reader. I think it's pretty much what it would be nowadays if Google had not killed it. A few nice features added, like newsletters or fetching full feed for the ones that don't offer it, but not super modern, AI-hyped, etc.
More recently, I connected it to Reeder Classic (pre-subscription version) on Mac and iPhone. But they have their own app and web version as well.
I have the exact same setup with NewsBlur + Reeder Classic. It's the absolute best. I especially love the controls NewsBlur provides for filtering out content you're not interested in — you can select any word or phrase to mute, and it will no longer show stories with it in their titles. Perfect for gaming blogs that have lots of SEO/guide content along with relevant/interesting editorial content.
I use a free account with Inoreader to track and manage my feeds, with Unread on iOS as a minimalist client. Unread can manage the feeds directly, but I was already set up with Inoreader when I found it and Unread doesn't have a web client for the rare times I'm not on an Apple device.
I was using Newsflash on Linux, great app with a really nice GTK interface. Since then I started hosting FreshRSS though and use a script to pull from it, mark as read then convert and transfer articles to my Palm Pilot for offline reading.
Inoreader paid account
I enjoy newsraft. It's small and easy to set up.
https://codeberg.org/newsraft/newsraft
Back when Google Reader shut down, I migrated painlessly to Feedly. Been happy ever since. They've pivoted into more of a Threat Intelligence product, but it's still a very enjoyable UX. I technically worked for a competitor until recently and I'd still recommend Feedly anytime
I'm very happy with FeedMail. It fetches feeds and then emails the articles to you, either one-by-one or as a digest with multiple posts (good for high-volume feeds), so you can read them in your mail client across your devices.
I self host Stringer from a box in my basement and it's great.